Dr. Finbarr "Barry" Sheehan, cancer specialist, B.C. Cancer Agency, 49
La N
http://www.theprovince.com/health/Doctor+feted+humanity/1805801/story.html
Doctor feted for his 'humanity'
Cancer specialist, mentor with 'comfortable' bedside manner had love of
languages
By Susan Lazaruk, The ProvinceJuly 19, 2009
A well-respected and popular cancer specialist and mentor who had adopted
Vancouver as his home for the past 15 years and had a love of languages,
especially Spanish, has died.
Dr. Finbarr "Barry" Sheehan, a radiation oncologist who specialized in lung
and head and neck cancers, had worked at the B.C. Cancer Agency since 1993.
He also trained other young doctors who chose to specialize in the cancer
field.
He was always quick to practise his language skills and, on his rounds at
the hospital with a new resident, he spoke fluently with one patient in
Spanish and another in passable Cantonese, recalled colleague Dr. John Hay.
"This poor resident, she didn't know what to make of it," he said.
"He liked to say that languages were his golf," said Hay. "He had a great
love of Spanish culture and often travelled to Spain and South America," as
well as Mexico.
Sheehan was remembered by colleagues, students and patients as a
knowledgeable professional who knew how to relate to his patients.
"Barry's outstanding integrity and humanity came across to all who met him,"
said Dr. Tom Keane, a former colleague and close friend who delivered his
eulogy.
He called him a great listener and someone who never sought the limelight
but "preferred instead to stay in the background, deflecting credit for
achievements to others." As director of the residency program for radiation
oncology in Vancouver for seven years, Sheehan mentored some 20 junior
doctors training to become specialists, for which he won a number of
teaching awards, said Keane.
"His office was rarely empty of young doctors seeking his sage advice and
his wise counsel," he said.
He was known for his sensitivity, empathy and kindness, living his mantra,
"you treat patients with cancer, as against treating cancer," said Keane.
"He took the time to listen to what patients had to say, even if it meant
his clinics ran very late in the day." "His bedside manner made you feel so
comfortable," said patient Leonard George of North Van- couver.
During follow-up exams, patient Serge Milare of Richmond wrote on an online
memorial, he "would be surprised that Dr. Sheehan would remember little
details of our previous brief conversations. The compassion he showed his
patients was genuine." Sheehan was born in Cork, Ireland, on Aug. 26, 1959,
the eldest of six children, three boys and three girls. He attended the
nearby Christian Brothers College and was a member of the Boy Scouts and the
FCA, the Irish army reserves. He graduated in 1983 in medicine at University
College Cork and began his training in Ireland.
He married Joan Geoghegan in 1988 at a Christmas wedding in Galway before
moving to Cleveland for an 18-month fellowship, and then Toronto, where he
completed his residency in radiation oncology in 1993.
He took a staff position at the B.C. Cancer Centre in August 1993.
In B.C., he and Joan hiked and took ocean-kayaking trips and Sheehan
indulged his love of walking while continuing to study Spanish and visit
Latin countries.
A 780-kilometre pilgrimage along a 1,000-year-old trail to the Spanish city
of Santiago de Compostela, said to be the burial site of the apostle James,
made him aware of "a spiritual dimension in the simple acts of daily life,"
said Keane.
He was an avid reader with an interest in human rights and a passion for
justice, which was reflected in his practice and in his many friendships.
"He was quiet and he established rapport with people very quickly," said
colleague and friend Dr. Nevin Murray. "In speaking with patients, he was
able to empathize with them." He had a wide range of interests and kept up
on politics of the world and Ireland.
"He was particularly pleased to have predicted the fall of the Berlin Wall
and the ascendancy of Barack Obama to the presidency of the U.S. many years
before anyone else," said Keane.
Last Christmas, around his and Joan's 20th wedding anniversary, Sheehan
suffered abdominal pain that was diagnosed as inoperable liver cancer.
The clean-living and healthy doctor had no previous hepatitis or other liver
disease or damage.
"This came right out of the blue," said Murray.
His background as a radiation oncologist "was a two-edged sword. He knew
what was coming because he knew from the very beginning this was not
treatable," said Hay.
He received some chemotherapy and radiation but followed the same advice he
had dispensed to his terminally ill patients and didn't pursue aggressive
medical treatment.
"He took [his diagnosis] with a lot of dignity," said Hay.
He and Joan moved in May to Cork and he was treated at Marymount Hospice,
not far from his childhood home, the fields where he played soccer as a
child, family and friends and the Catholic church of his youth.
"He got a lot of solace from his church and he thought the church in Ireland
had got a bad rap," said Hay. "He said it had helped him and Joan." Sheehan
died July 8, less than two months shy of his 50th birthday, at the hospice,
with Joan and his siblings by his side. He was buried at St. Oliver's
cemetery after a Requiem Mass. The couple had no children.